Israeli President Moshe Katsav lambasted Syrian President Bashar Assad Sunday, implying that he would do much better to follow his late father's example by exercising more self-control in his criticism of Israel and the Jewish people, reported The Jerusalem Post.

Katsav was reacting to Assad's denunciation of Israel and his references to the suffering of Jesus at the hands of the Jews.

"He [Hafez Assad] was not a partner with whom we could reach peace but he did not express himself in such a careless, racist, antisemitic, illogical manner as that in which the current president expresses himself," Katsav said.

Assad's father, during his long rule of Syria, never allowed himself to make statements such as those which Bashar Assad made to Pope John Paul II, said Katsav, adding that he hoped the Vatican would correct Assad's historical inaccuracies.

Assad compared Jesus's suffering at the hands of the Jews with Palestinian suffering at the hands of the Israelis, during the pope's pilgrimage to Syria.

The Syrians hope to to promote the Arab issues during the Pope’s four-day visit to Syria.

At least a Syrian serviceman was killed in an air raid on a radar post in lebanon in April. The Syrians always remind of Israeli threats to wage a war against the Arab country.

Peace negotiations between the two foes froze in December 1999 as the two sides failed to reach an agreement on the Golan Heights, which were occupied by Israel in 1967 – Albawaba.com